An Introduction to off the coast

Traditional Maine

Maine is widely celebrated as a place of great natural beauty bathed in exquisite
light. The state enjoys a rich artistic tradition best known through the work
of a largely male group of artists such as Thomas Cole, Winslow Homer, Rockwell
Kent, Edward Hopper, and Paul Strand, whose visits to the state created an
enduring picturesque archetype. Today, a growing and diversifying corps
of artists is changing how both Mainers and people “from away”
perceive the state. No longer solely a place to visit to make inspired art,
Maine has become a destination where more and more contemporary artists live
and work. Off the Coast: A Landscape Chronology deconstructs the
art-historical paradigm of New England and Maine while exploring innovations
in contemporary landscape art.

George Inness’ and Delbert Dana (D.D.) Coombs’ work belongs to
the pastoral tradition prevalent in the nineteenth century, though each rejected
the notion of offering the viewer a mere “window onto the world”
or an idealization of vast wilderness – at the time a popular visual
metaphor for American opportunity. Instead, they sought to impart the emotional
experience they felt in more humble surroundings, as witnesses to the union
of natural and spiritual realms. By mid-century, artists sought new ways to
express the iconic power of Maine’s geography. The dynamic language
of Expressionism provided Marsden Hartley and James Fitzgerald a means to
capture the impressive contour of Mount Katahdin. Berenice Abbott’s
images of the Maine logging industry, illustrations for her book A Portrait
of Maine, reveal an eye for narrative and a modernist’s interest
in the patterns created by cut logs sent downriver to the mill.